| |
|
Behind
The Card - Baron Soontir Fel
by
Brian Weeks
 From
across the starry heavens to the lowest levels of the forest floor,
an epic battle rages. Planet side, Imperial scout troopers, rebel
commandos, and even the indiginous furry Ewoks fight for dominance
and their own survival. Far above, in the cold reaches of space,
two Jedi fight to fulfill their destinies. The ultimate battle of
good versus evil is about to begin, and this time, YOU are in control.
The first and only time Wizard
of the Coast allowed Star Wars TCG players world-wide to help develop
a card for the TCG was for the Empire Strikes Back expansion.
After seven online polls, Mara
Jade (A) was created. In three years and ten WOTC expansions,
the TCG fan got to help make one card. The IDC rectified this oversight
by allowing you to help create the Equipment card, Thermal Detonator
for Scum
and Villainy. So, today and in the following weeks, YOU, the
loyal TCG player, will again help us create a card for our next
expansion, Battle
of Endor.
A
Card In Development
While the ability submissions for Fel's
TIE Interceptor are being reviewed by the Card Development and Rules
Committees, I thought I would provide a little background on the
pilot of this craft, Baron Soontir Fel. Baron Fel is an Expanded
Universe Character created by author Michael A. Stackpole and his
background history was developed with the help of fellow Star Wars
author Timothy Zahn. Fel's first appearance was in the comic
X-wing: Rogue Squadron #21. |
|
|
| |
|
 Early
life
"Fel was born on an Agr Corporation agro-combine on Corellia.
The son of a transport flier for the company, he became an adept
pilot at an early age. In his teens, he began to fly transports
to cover for his father, who was ill and no longer able to fly.
In 11 BBY at the age of eighteen, Fel defended a female friend from
an assault by the son of an upper management official in Agr. Threatened
with retribution, Fel took the case to the Corellian authorities
and was to be a key witness in the trial. In order to prevent his
testimony the president of Agr Corp secured Fel an appointment at
the Imperial Military Academy on Carida. He agreed to go under the
threat of his covering for his father being revealed.
Early military career
Fel proved himself an exemplary student at the academy and graduated
salutatorian of his class, behind only later New Republic General
Han Solo. In 7 BBY, he was assigned to the 6th squadron of the 37th
Fighter Wing, stationed on Abrogator. After one year, Fel was promoted
to captain and requested another tour of duty with the 6/37th. Upon
completing his second tour, he was transferred to Fleet Operations
and given a position on Pride of the Senate. He served aboard
that vessel at the Battle of Nar Shaddaa, fighting against smuggler
and mercenary forces, including his former classmate Han Solo.
In 5 BBY, he was transferred to
a teaching position at the military academy on Prefsbelt IV. He
proved a talented instructor and unwittingly trained some of the
Rebel Alliance's best pilots, including Biggs Darklighter, Tycho
Celchu, and Derek Klivian. His class's great success attracted the
attention of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, who offered Fel a position
on his personal bodyguard. The capture and defection of the frigate
Rand Ecliptic by his former students, however, left Fel in
disgrace and caused him to be immediately transferred to the 181st
Fighter Wing, at the time one of the poorest in the Fleet. Placed
in command of the 2nd squadron, Fel quickly whipped it into fighting
shape in time to be sent to retake Ord Biniir with only the 2/181st.
Command of the 181st
The victory at Ord Biniir was turned into a major media event to
pull attention away from the loss at the Battle of Yavin, and Fel
was promoted to major at a ceremony on Imperial Center. Now a hero
and media darling, Fel attracted the attention of well-known actress
Wynssa Starflare. The two began dating during Fel's month of leave
on Imperial Center, after which Fel threw himself into turning the
181st, now downsized to a group, into an elite unit. Stationed on
Imperial Center, Fel continued dating Starflare for the following
year and proposed to her around 1 ABY. She accepted, and the marriage
attracted a great deal of media attention.
Fel
spent the following two years leading the 181st to a string of victories,
earning many honors and giving it a reputation as the best fighter
unit  in the Empire. In 3 ABY, Fel participated in the Battle of
Derra IV, which in part due to his actions was a great success.
For his part in the battle he was promoted to colonel and placed
in command of the 181st. He was also made a Baron and granted land
on Corellia, to which he moved his family. Fel continued to serve
the Empire, transferring away from the 181st for a brief time in
4 ABY to serve as the leader of Saber Squadron, an elite TIE/In
starfighter unit created to protect the Death Star II. During the
Battle of Endor Saber Squadron was assigned to defend the Star Destroyer
Avenger, a task that he carried out admirably in spite of the Empire's
loss at that battle.
Fel at the Battle of Endor.
After death of Emperor Palpatine at Endor, Fel began to harbor private
doubts about his service to the Empire. However, he kept these buried
and continued to serve the successor to the Emperor, Sate Pestage,
for the following year. During this time, he defended key Imperial
outposts, and tracked down and killed the rogue TIE pilot Iran Ryad.
His doubts and conflicting loyalties came to a head, however, during
the lengthy Battle of Brentaal IV. Fel was forced to serve under
the command of Admiral Lon Isoto, a vain, irresponsible man who
Fel held little respect for. It soon became apparent that Isard
intended for Brentaal IV to fall to undercut her political opponents,
and that Fel and his pilots were to be sacrificed if necessary in
order to allow fleeing Imperial forces to escape. Disgusted, Fel
had a confrontation with Director of Intelligence Ysanne Isard over
the HoloNet immediately prior to the final fight and accused her
of sending his pilots to their deaths for political gain. She denied
it, and Fel was left to enter the fight with resurfaced doubts.
Despite his growing doubts, Fel explicitly rejected Turr Phennir's
suggestion that the 181st would follow him if he left the Empire
to become a warlord. During the course of the dogfight in Brentaal
IV's orbit Fel's fighter was disabled by ion cannon fire and he
was captured by the Alliance. He later claimed that he allowed himself
to be captured, but this is impossible to verify.
Capture and defection
 During
his interrogation by the New Republic, Fel reminisced about his
life and where it had taken him. He made the decision to defect
to the New Republic, citing several key reasons. He said that he
first became disgruntled with the Imperial service after being tested
for loyalty by Isard prior to the Battle of Derra IV; in order to
prove that he was "incorruptible" Isard had forcibly kissed
him and made a halfhearted attempt to seduce him, in spite of the
knowledge that he was married. The events surrounding the Battle
of Derra IV further unsettled Fel, as he was aware that the battle
plan was formulated by then-Admiral Thrawn, who afterwards received
no recognition for his part in it and was "exiled" to
the Unknown Regions. Fel said that this event began to make him
wonder about the hypocrisy of the Empire's pro-Human policies (Ironically,
Thrawn's "exile" was actually the result of a plan he
and the Emperor had laid out to secretly bring the Unknown Regions
under Imperial control. Fel would have had no way of knowing this,
however). Lastly, the political machinations of Isard, Pestage,
and the Cabal and their focus on personal rather than Imperial gain
so disgusted him that he concluded that the Empire he had served
for so many years had died at Endor. Fel's only condition for his
defection was that the New Republic help his wife and family go
into hiding to avoid retribution.
After the deal was sealed, Fel
was assigned to the elite fighter unit Rogue Squadron; ironically,
he was now under the command of his brother-in-law, Wedge Antilles.
It turned out that Fel's wife had already fled Corellia, preparations
having been laid out earlier in the event that her identity (that
of Syal Antilles, Wedge Antilles's sister) was discovered. For the
next year, Fel served in Rogue Squadron without much regret, meeting
up again with his former classmate Han Solo and posing as an undercover
agent on several occasions to confuse Imperial adversaries. During
this time he was shown around at several political events as a symbol
of the Empire's downfall.
Return to the Empire
In 5 ABY, Fel disappeared from the New Republic. It was later discovered
that he had been captured by Ysanne Isard at the suggestion of Grand
Admiral Thrawn. Seeing a leader he could once again put his faith
in, Fel served Thrawn loyally for the next several years, fighting
mostly against the many warlords who challenged the official Imperial
rulers for control.
During this time, Fel also agreed
to serve as a template for an elite group of clones which were scattered
in sleeper cells throughout the Galaxy to form the core of a resistance
should the Empire and New Republic fall to a threat from the Unknown
Regions. One such clone was Carib Devist, who later defected to
the New Republic and played a pivotal role in the New Republic victory
at the Second Battle of Bothawui.
Sometime after Thrawn's assassination
at Bilbringi, Fel retired from the service of the Empire to join
Admiral Voss Parck in the Empire of the Hand. Greeted there with
open arms, Fel was made a general and commanded forces for many
years in battles with the various hostile alien races living in
the Unknown Regions. During a battle with a warlord, Fel lost an
eye; instead of wasting valuable medical supplies, he simply had
an eyepatch put over the socket.
 The
Yuuzhan Vong War and beyond
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Fel retired from the service and was,
remarkably, allowed by the Chiss to settle on Csilla in spite of
the Ascendancy's xenophobia and distrust of the Empire of the Hand.
It is possible that he was allowed to join the Ascendancy after
the disagreement following the removal of several houses from the
Ruling Families, which he may have helped remove. During the Yuuzhan
Vong War, Fel sent a task force to compliment the fleet defending
Ithor, but he soon began to have doubts over the New Republic's
ability to effectively fight the Yuuzhan Vong.
However, after the Fall of Coruscant,
Fel made a complete turn around, saying that the Chiss had to join
the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances or the Ascendancy would
be doomed. Unsurprisingly, the Chiss dismissed his claims, saying
that the Galactic Alliance would bring them down. However, after
a failed attempt on his life and the life of Luke Skywalker's diplomatic
team during the search for Zonama Sekot, the Ascendancy gave its
support to the Galactic Alliance.
During the Dark Nest Crisis in
35 ABY, his son Jag risked the family reputation by securing the
release of a Jedi Joiner back to the Galactic Alliance. When the
released Jedi Joiner was part of the group of Joiners that attacked
a Chiss supply depot, which instigated the Swarm War, the Fel family's
credibility, finances, and reputation in the Ascendancy was ruined."
(This
article is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikia
article "Soontir Fel".)
Thoughts
or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here. |
|
|
